Early New Zealand Photographers

Joseph Weaver Allen
Moray Place
Dunedin

born 2 February 1821 Kingston, Middlesex, England [11]
son of Sarah Weaver and Thomas Allen* (Fruiterer)
bapt 25 August 1824, Parish of St James, Westminster, London (1)
died 29 May 1886, York Place, Lygon Street, Melbourne aged 65 years
of colitis asthenia
buried 1 June 1886 General Cemetery, Melbourne

married 21 December 1854 Melbourne, Victoria [8]
Rebecca Martha Cox
reg. 1854/3112
born Hackney, London, England [11]

from "Joseph Weaver Allen - Photographer" by Hardwicke Knight

issue:
1. Joseph Alexander Allen born 29 August 1855, Sandridge, Victoria, Australia [8], died 1934, married 15 March 1882 St Matthew's Church, Dunedin to Ann Eliza Barrett born
30 April 1857, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia died 25 April 1907, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia [8], eldest daughter of Abraham Barrett [5] and Ann Eliza Martin [8].

2. Sarah Rebecca Allen born 31 July 1856 at Sandridge [1] died 15 December 1874 at Hokitika aged 18 years, buried Hokitika Cemetery plot 2406 block 159 [7].

West Coast Times, Issue 2879, 16 December 1874, Page 2
David Brocklehurst's wife Georgina Ellen Brocklehurst was the sister of Rebecca Martha Cox [8].

3. Amelia Christina Allen born 22 July 1857 at Sandridge [2], married Sidney Jago or Sydney Jago (he died before 1921) about 1887 reg. Victoria, Australia no. 55, died 29 September 1921 aged 64 at Caulfield, Victoria [6] reg. 13356.

4. Francis Adolphus George Allen born 23 September 1859 at the Sandridge Inn – died 1900 [8]

5. George Frederick Allen (1862 – 1934) [born 21 November 1861 Izet Street, Prahran to Mrs J. W. Allen?]

6. William Meluish Allen born circa 1865 reg. 1865/18867 - died about 1 October 1867, buried Southern Cemetery, Dunedin, New Zealand Block 6P. Plot 57

7. Alfred Weaver Allen (confectionery manufacturer) born 18 June 1870 at 67 Cecil Street, Emerald Hill, Melbourne, Victoria [10], (birth registered as Alfred William) died 5 October 1925 at a St Andrew's Private Hospital, Brighton, Melbourne aged 55 years, married Bridget Mary Dunn, a dressmaker, at St Jude's Church of England, Carlton, on 2 September 1897 [10], (1925 of Bolton Avenue, Brighton Beach) father of Millie (Mrs Alan Tate), Myrtle and Nellie [9].

* Thomas Allen died 27 April 1868 at the residence of his daughter, Mrs Muir, Bedford House, Dunedin, buried 29 April 1868 Southern Cemetery, Dunedin Block 6P. Plot 37, born Edmonton, Middlesex, England botanist/photographer aged 80 or 82 years.
In 1868 he sent three cases of ferns to London on the ship "Lady Egidia" - Otago Daily Times, Issue 1948, 28 March 1868, Page 4.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 1974, 28 April 1868, Page 4

[1] The Argus (Melbourne), Tuesday 5 August 1856 page 4
[2] The Argus (Melbourne) Tuesday 11 August 1857 p 4
[3] The Argus (Melbourne), Tuesday 27 September 1859, page 4
[4] The Argus (Melbourne) Friday 22 November 1861, p 4
[5] Otago Daily Times , Issue 6300, 21 April 1882, Page 2
[6] The Argus (Melbourne), Saturday 1 October 1921, page 11
[7] Westland District Council online cemetery database
[8] Ancestry.com
[9] The Argus (Melbourne), Tuesday 6 October 1925 page 1
[10] Australian Dictionary of Biography - http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/allen-alfred-weaver-alf-12771
[11] birth certificate of Joseph Alexander Allen 1855 - Ancestry.com

(1) London Metropolitan Archives, SAINT JAMES, PICCADILLY: PICCADILLY, WESTMINSTER, Transcript of baptisms, marriages and burials, 1824 Jan-1824 Dec, DL/T Item, 090/017.

Allen, James Weaver, b 1822. Allen, J W fl 1867-1885 : [Dunedin Streets, Princess]. Ref: PA2-0009. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/22688134

Allen, James Weaver, b 1822. Allen, J W : Dunedin Exhibition building 1865. Ref: PA2-0012. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/23229864

Otago Daily Times, Issue 1543, 7 December 1866, Page 3

(This notice first appeared in the Otago Daily Times on 28 November 1866, page 7.)

above - a photograph copied by Alexander Thomson of an earlier carte de visite by Joseph Weaver Allen.The sitter is believed to be James Lawrie Oliver (1827-1874). The studio setting particularly the patterned table cloth and carpet indicate this was taken in Allen's Moray Place studio in Dunedin.

Joseph M. Allen (sic), Moray Place, photographer was a jury member for trails at the Dunedin Supreme Court on 1 September 1869.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 2441, 2 December 1869, Page 2

In December 1871 designs for a new Hall for the Friendly Societies Hall Company Ltd in Princes Street were submitted to the Hall Committee. The site of the new building was between the shop of Mr Hannagan, tailor and that of Mr Allen, photographer.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3077, 16 December 1871, Page 2

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3090, 1 January 1872, Page 3

A meeting of old South Australian colonists was held last evening, at Hancock's Hotel, Mr Allen (photographer) in the chair. It was resolved that a Society of old colonists (who had been 21 years in the Colonies) should be established on the principle of the one founded by Mr George Coppin in Victoria, and to be colonists from every Colony of Australasia.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4119, 1 May 1875, Page 2

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4464, 9 June 1876, Page 4

above - a carte de visite by J. W. Allen, Photographer, Melbourne

This carte de visite is shown on page 119 of the monograph by Hardwicke Knight on "Joseph Weaver Allen - Photographer":

We are left with what might be called a parting question. A carte-de-visite, found by the author in Dunedin in the 1960s, has on the back the inscription J. W. Allen, photographer, Melbourne in almost the same printer's type and ornament as which Allen, in Dunedin, used on his cartes-de-visite during the period he was active at his Princes Street studio. The portrait on the Melbourne carte is shown above.

above - the reverse of J. W. Allen's Dunedin and Melbourne cartes de visite.

Since there is no listing of a J. W. Allen in The Mechanical Eye in Australia, it is possible, if the photographer is our Joseph Weaver Allen, that the period of his activity in Melbourne was brief. It is significant that the photograph was found in Dunedin, because members of the Allen family were living here at the same time as others were living in Melbourne, and it is likely it was sent within the family circle

The question really is what is the date of the carte-de-visite and, following on for that, what was Allen doing with a studio in Melbourne at the date. And that date could be after 1886 when he had to move out of the Leckhampton Court, Caversham, house: or in the 1890s after his supposed final return to Australia. It is also possible that Allen ran a studio in Melbourne earlier in the 1880s, though it is difficult to fit in more than a year or two when he did not leave some evidence of being active in Dunedin.

As regards the likeness of the subject of the Melbourne portrait, the high forehead, the nose and side bangs could well be Joseph Weaver Allen before he sported a beard. He looks quite a bit younger than in the portrait reproduced on the title-page, but that gives us no clue since his age in the title-page photograph is not known. It is noticed that the waistcoat in the portrait of the older man does up right over left instead of conventionally, and from other details it does not appear that the photograph has been reversed.